Industrial Internet Explained: Key Terms and Ideas

A printer autonomously orders a new cartridge before the old one is empty. A machine sends its operating status to the manufacturer to enable impending failure to be avoided. This is made possible due to the Internet of Things (IoT). But how does it work?

Networking of corporate business units and departments (vertical integration) and between companies (horizontal integration) plays an essential role in the IIoT. It results in new value-added networks that offer enhanced cooperation, coordination, and transparency.

Production is changing due to ever shorter product life cycles, increased competition, smaller batches and more complex production processes. The result is a world with smart value chains that organize and optimize themselves – within and between companies.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are the fabric that holds together the IIoT. They are the indispensable technological link for the merging of real and virtual worlds...

Date collected by many different electronic devices, but also by sensors or machines flows into a pool of information: This is what we call ''Big Data''. How can we benefit?

The ''Smart Factory'' features a production which organizes and optimizes itself.

Predictive Maintenance Avoids Expensive Downtime. To achieve this, systems continuously analyze their status themselves and impending problems are reported in a timely manner.

Demand-driven production allows for flexible and cost-effective production in line with the customer’s wishes.

The automated exchange of information between mobile devices via the Internet and mobile communications guarantees optimum processes and increases productivity.

The Industrial Cloud is a virtual environment that enables companies to exchange sensitive data securely.

Every production step is documented to allow for full traceability of the entire product life. This enables problems to be quickly resolved, or even comple

Networking opens up completely new possibilities for hackers. Cyber security strategies for data security in the virtual space address this challenge.